Don't regret, learn

I guess the inspiration for this one came up here at my job that I started a few hours ago. I have worked for this agency for 10+ years and I had left the agency for 10 months for a job in Vermont. The job in Vermont worked out but the social aspects of Vermont really didn't work out. So many people who saw me today (and since our return to this state 4 months ago) have asked me: "How does it feel to be back?". I have also been asked: "How was Vermont?"
The first part is always easy to me: I love Massachusetts, warts and all, and have felt at home here for 10+ years. I left my home of 24 years in Quebec to be here and I was never made to feel like I did not belong in Mass. My sometimes Canadian/French accent and inability to say "th" words very well has been the butt of many jokes but never in a mean or vicious way. Massachusetts never made me feel like an outsider. Add to that, that my employer during all these years, Advocates, has mostly made me feel valuable, respected, and took me back with open arms, this is a "perfect storm" to happiness. Sure, I complain about aspects of my job, but it has never, NEVER, been in a malicious way or in a way to put down this agency. I am someone who thinks I must do my best to be part of a team and seek improvements to the company I work. Ask all my former employers: I complain, but I really try to improve things, not make them woorse. Sometimes, I am too pushy. Whatever! Advocates lets me be me most of the timeand I am grateful for that.
The latter question makes me cringe most of the time, as I have mixed feelings about Vermont: I LOVED, LOVED the job. It gave me an opportunity to use my leadership skills in something I liked, got into a difficulty situation and adjusted to it. I was also able to bring a shift in culture in a certain way within the agency I worked with. I also was sent to meetings where my opinion mattered and felt I could make a change in ideas in the area. I had the confidence in the leadership in a way I have never had in my 10+ years in this field. As for my sociaal life, well that is a different story. I was never able to connect with people the way I wanted. My priorities were different. Sometimes, I wonder if I did not set it up that way. I state that my lack of social contact was due to others but sometimes, I wonder if I just knew...I still don't have an answer to that. I met some very great people that I miss and others I don't. Vermont is different than Mass after all.
When our house never sold, we had to make a choice around bankruptcy orcoming back and we came back to Massachusetts. I had to take a job I had trouble with and had trouble with again, to the point I had to look for work elsewhere. But that is another blog for another day.
The lesson here is this: I learned alot in Vermont, not only about myself, but about my skills, my wife, my child, and my interests. Do I regret going to Vermont, getting in debt on the house, feeling isolated, feeling lost? Absolutely not. I learned that you got to take a chance in life. You got to try stuff, learn about yourself and hopefully apply it in your life. Vermont thought me how to love myself and my family first. I also know I am skilled to the point you can meet higher ups in the goverment or in life and they will listen to you, and that a title in a job is just that: a title. I feel that Vermont was a great teaching experience for myself. Now if I could only apply it in my life...